Whether he's called to testify about faked antiqutities at a sensational trial in Jerusalem, consulted about ancient tomb inscriptions for a TV documentary, or lecture at the Madison Biblical Archaeology Society, Christopher Rollston is in demand for his expertise in ancient writings.

In introducing him before his lecture two weeks ago at Edgewood College, MBAS president Jeff Blakely called Rollston, "the leading epigrapher of our generation."

Rollston is a professor of Semitic Studies at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in Johnson City, Tennessee, and the author of the recent book, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel. During his Madison lecture Rollston focused on two ancient inscriptions which have been in the news lately.

He started by discussing the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription, which some have called the earliest Hebrew inscription. Written on a piece of pottery discovered in 2008 at a site overlooking the Elah Valley (where David faced Goliath), the inscription is clearly in an ancient alphabetic script used for Hebrew writing. But whether it is actually Hebrew has not yet been determined.

Questions About a Tomb

In a much more contemporary approach, Rollston discussed an inscription on an ossuary in a Jerusalem tomb that's the subject of a new book and a Discovery Channel television show that was supposed to have been telecast sometime around Easter. The book and the TV show, promoted by archaeologist James Tabor and producer Simcha Jacobovici, suggest that the inscription may be a first century mention of the Christian belief in the resurrection, and the tomb may be that of Joseph of Arimathea.

"It's a nice inscription but it's not as dramatic as Tabor and Jacobovici are arguing," Rollston said. He said that close inspection revealed that the first letter of the word that Tabor and Jacobovici read as the name of God was not an iota, as they thought, but rather a tau.

As for the suggestion that the tomb was that of Joseph of Arimathea, there was no mention of Joseph anywhere in the tomb. "If you're going to make an argument you need evidence to base it on. You have to have evidence, otherwise your argument is not based on hard data," Rollston said.

Tabor and Jacobovici also suggest that a drawing on an ossuary in the tomb shows Jonah emerging from the whale. But Rollston says a better explanation for the drawing would be a small jar or unguentarium which was commonly found in ancient tombs of the period. "I'm not aware of any scholar embracing Tabor's view," he said.

Rollston said that he was brought in on the project as a consulting expert when the National Geographic was sponsoring the documentary. However, National Geographic cut ties with the project, and the Discovery Channel picked it up.

The Experts React

When Tabor and Jacobovici went public with their project on February 28th, Rollston and other members of the American Schools of Oriental Research expressed their criticisms in a series of articles on the ASOR blog. The organization has begun to utililize more modern communications methods to allow it's members to have their voices heard in a more proactive manner, instead of waiting weeks or months to publish them in a scholarly journal.

Tabor, himself an ASOR member, may have been a bit overwhelmed by all of the attention. "Whether damned or praised—and so far there has been much more of the former than the latter—it is an honor to have ones ideas considered by colleagues," he wrote in defense on the ASOR blog.